E-Paper
PhD economist says his work now involves removing 'em-dashes' from AI writing: 'Invisible labour of AI economy'
An economist has sparked a discussion online after sharing that much of his current job involves editing AI-generated text rather than conducting research.
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping how people work across industries, from coding and design to research and writing. As AI tools become more integrated into everyday workflows, many professionals are finding that their roles are evolving, not necessarily disappearing, but shifting in unexpected ways.
A US-based economist has now sparked discussion on this very shift, after revealing that much of his current job involves editing AI-generated text rather than conducting research.
Taking to X, Marshall Steinbaum, who holds a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, shared that he now spends significant time refining outputs generated by AI tools. “I have a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago and my main work task these days is removing em-dashes from Claude output so it’s not overly obvious,” he wrote.
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How did social media react?
Steinbaum’s post quickly caught the attention of social media users, with many reflecting on the changing nature of work in the age of AI.
“Years of grad school. Dissertation. Defence committee. Tenure track. And now: Ctrl+H, em-dash, nothing, replace all. The invisible labour of the AI economy,” one user wrote.
Another commented on how perceptions of writing style are shifting. “The fact that we’ve all agreed that all em-dashed sentences are AI-generated is funny because now it’s in our subconscious to treat them as such,” the user wrote.
“When we thought AI would take our jobs, they failed to account for our invaluable role in em dash removal,” one user said, while another joked, “The irony of a phd economist becoming a human em-dash detector lmao.”
“Same here (minus the PhD). However, I’m finding that when I’m writing sth myself, I tend to use dashes more,” shared one user.
“The annoying part of this is that you're removing em-dashes from your work so that people who hardly ever read won't think it's an AI. When, in fact, if you read any non-fiction written by humans of any reputable prose style you'll find em-dashes on the first page,” said another.
